TL;DR Review: Compelling, colorful, and complex. Epic storytelling that sinks into your bones and keeps you turning pages.
Synopsis:
Powered by the corpses of sorcerers, the Empire has conquered the world. It claims to have brought peace and stability to its conquered lands, but some see that peace for what it is—a lie—and will give everything in the fight against it.
Loran is desperate for revenge after the Empire killed her family, so much so that the swordswoman climbs the volcano where the legends say an ancient dragon slumbers and leaps in. She finds that the legends are true, and Loran leaves the mountain with a sword made of dragon’s fang and a great purpose before her.
Cain arrived in the Imperial Capital lost and orphaned, and it’s only thanks to the kindness of a stranger-turned-mentor that he survived on the city’s streets. When his friend is found murdered, he will leave no stone unturned to find those responsible, even if it means starting a war.
Arienne’s future has never been in question—born a sorcerer, she’ll be a Power Generator for the Empire upon her death. But when she starts to hear the voice of a powerful necromancer in her head, she realizes the only thing more terrifying than dying for the Empire is never getting to truly live in the first place.
When peace is a lie, there is power in truth—and as Loran, Cain, and Arienne hunt for answers in their own lives, any one of their small rebellions could be the stone that brings the Empire toppling down.
Full Review:
Blood of the Old Kings had me intrigued from the very first page. Heck, the first paragraph.
A dragon with too many eyes locked away by magic in a volcano, a desperate woman willing to make a deal for the salvation of her people, and a promise of vengeance against an all-powerful conquering Empire.
For Loran, the deaths of her husband and daughter are the only thing driving her to take up the dragon’s sword against the Empire. She will cut her way through their armies, defeat their magic, and destroy their mightiest creations—and in so doing, become the Princess and ultimately the King her people need.
Her story is the most compelling of the POV characters, and the most dynamic. She begins fighting alone, but through her courage and resilience, winds up joining forces with a ragtag band of rebels that may have a chance at becoming an army. Spitting in the face of the Empire could cost her everything—but the price is worth paying to free her people.
Cain is an ordinary-seeming young man working for an oil vendor, but there’s so much more to him than meets the eye. Sort of a grifter/spy/smuggler combination, he finds himself drawn into a quest for revenge against the ones who murdered the woman who saved him and kept him alive during his earliest days on the streets of the Empire’s capital city.
His story feels smaller, but it gives us a fascinating look into the “Ministry of Intelligence”, the shadow arm of the Empire’s police force. He is drawn into their tangled web by the chance to unmask his friend’s killer. But what he discovers could lead to the death—or salvation—of the Empire he has good cause to hate as an outsider.
Arienne is a mage, gifted with the ability to control magic and trained in the Empire’s most prestigious school. Only that school doesn’t actually teach her anything except ways of keeping her body and mind in shape to be a “Power generator” after her death. Because of course the Empire runs on the corpses of their mages—that’s what powers everything from their lights to their most advanced weapons.
But a mysterious voice in her head leads her to break free of the mage school and sets her fleeing into the farthest corners of the Empire. She and her new companion are hunted by the “Order of Truth”, those tasked with keeping mages firmly in line, and have to cross desolate terrain, dense forests, and icy mountain passes in the desperate hope of finding somewhere safe from their clutches. Though she has no understanding of magic to begin with, every trial and test she endures will teach her more—and more about herself, too.
Blood of the Old Kings is a fascinating story of a fight for freedom–freedom from oppression, from control over magic, from being told how you have to live your life. I particularly loved the message inherent into Loran’s story: it doesn’t take blood to make a princess or King, only the courage to stand up and show the people what it means to lead.
The world is rich and colorful, with so many fascinating cultures and customs that shade each captured kingdom with wondrous nuance.
Fans of K.S. Villoso’s Chronicles of the Wolf Queen and R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy War will feel right at home in this story!
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